Duck and cover ... David Warner (left) carted Victoria's bowling attack all over the MCG on day two, smashing 16 fours in his 87-ball 104.

Getty Images: Michael Dodge

Australia's Ashes preparations received a much-needed boost on Thursday as Test batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith hit sparkling centuries for New South Wales against Victoria.

The Blues were bowled out for 353 at stumps on day two at the MCG, a lead of 117 in reply to Victoria's first innings of 236 in their Sheffield Shield clash.

Warner, who scored three hundreds in last month's one-day domestic competition in Sydney, belted 16 fours in his brutal 87-ball 104, while Smith hit 107 in a more measured knock that included 13 fours and two sixes, reaching his hundred off 160 deliveries.

In and out of the Australian side after averaging 23 in three Ashes Tests in England earlier this year, Warner scored just 21 and 15 in last week's Shield opener against Tasmania.

But he lifted his game at first-class level as he took to the Victorian attack two weeks out from the first Ashes Test at the Gabba.

Leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed had a shocker for Victoria, claiming 1 for 91 off 21 overs, not helping his chances of a Test call-up.

Hard-working paceman John Hastings was the pick of the home side's bowlers with 5 for 61 from 24 overs including the prize wicket of Test captain Michael Clarke (43).

Clarke and Warner shared a crucial 104-run stand for the third wicket after the Blues had been 2 for 59. Warner reached his century off 84 balls with 15 fours.

But after an innings of measured aggression, the left-hander lost his cool three deliveries later, caught at mid-on after playing a loose pull shot at a wide ball from Scott Boland (2 for 69).

Clarke was out 12 runs later as Hastings caught the skipper in front.

Peter Nevill (42) and Smith added 102 for the fifth wicket, guiding the Blues to first-innings points before Nevill was lbw to Hastings at 5 for 277.

Bailey fails to capitalise on start

Pushing for Test selection, Tasmania's George Bailey did not make an impression on the scoreboard on day two but Queensland is still on the back foot after Thursday's play.

On a bizarre day at Brisbane's batsmen-friendly Allan Border Field, the Bulls lost three wickets as Nathan Reardon (3), Joe Burns (0) and Chris Hartley (52) were all removed lbw without offering a shot.

The loss of skipper Hartley would have hurt the Bulls more than the others as he fell in the penultimate over before stumps after sharing in a 120-run partnership with Chris Lynn (74 not out).

Lynn's powerful knock follows on from scores of 104 and 61 not out for the WA Chairman's XI in the tour match against England as well as a match-winning performance in the final of the domestic one-day tournament.

In light of the success of Smith and Warner's success, Bailey would have loved to get a big score but it was not to be as he was dismissed for his overnight score of 34 by potential Test comrade Ryan Harris (2 for 127) early in the morning.

Bailey's failure to score was the first blow taken by the Tasmanians as they lost 8 for 116 on Thursday after looking good at 2 for 291 at the start of the day's play.

On 68 after day one, Ed Cowan did not fair much better than Bailey as he only added 10 to his score before he was removed by Luke Feldman (1 for 25).

Ben Dunk (54) and a cameo from tail-ender Ben Hilfenhaus (25) were the only Tasmanian batsmen to put up any resistance on day two.

Queensland's Cameron Gannon tore through the Tigers to finish the innings with figures of 5 for 53 from 25.3 overs.

Warriors and Redbacks share points on day two

10 fell at the MCG, 11 at Allan Border Field, but the WACA was the winner with 13 wickets falling on day two as South Australia reached a 60-run lead after Western Australia got first-innings points.

The Redbacks got off to rocky start when opener Sam Raphael fell to Mitchell Johnson (1 for 23) on the first ball of their second innings.

The Warriors were earlier bowled out for 230 in response to the visitors' 222.

The eight-run lead was mostly thanks to Western Australia openers Cameron Bancroft (40) and Marcus North (50) who top-scored for the hosts.

Adam Voges (38) was the only other batsman to score more than 30 runs for WA, as a late-innings cameo from Mitchell Johnson (27) just helped them pass the South Australian total.

Recovered from an injury scare on day one, Johnson got the Redbacks on the back foot early in their second innings when he trapped Raphael in front on his first delivery.

Fellow opener Phil Hughes enjoyed a steadying 62-run partnership with Travis Head to restore some order before Hughes was removed for 28 by spinner Ashton Agar (1 for 4).

Tom Cooper was out for a duck to seamer Michael Hogan (1 for 9) soon after.

But Head was the rock for South Australia. His 38 not out from 64 deliveries helped the Redbacks reach 3 for 68 from 24 overs.